The Northern Winds

by LCpl Azure Blaze

Chapter 4: Separation in Desolation

Twilight's smile faded off of her face as she stood there in the darkness of the cave. She knew her friends were close by but she had no idea where anything was anymore until, "Hey! Who turned off the lights?" she heard Pinkie say. Immediately afterwards the area they were in was illuminated by a soft glow of light which originated from Rarity's horn and fell on each of the ponies faces and their surroundings. The cave sparkled as the light reflected off of the crystals which composed the floor, ceiling, and walls of the cave in a truly spectacular display.

"It that better dear?" Rarity said.

"It's better," said Rainbow Dash, "But it still only goes so far."

"Just use the night vision setting on your snow goggles then," said Twilight.

"Oh yeah, I already forgot about that," responded Rainbow Dash as each of the ponies grabbed the goggles hanging around their necks and pulled them up to place them around their heads to their proper place in front of their eyes. They all proceeded to turn on their night vision except for Pinkie Pie who...

"Hey! This isn't night vision! Why is everybody so... rainbow-y?"

"That's the thermal vision, Pinkie," said Twilight in monotone, "Try the other switch."

Pinkie hit the opposite switch on her goggles and immediately her face light up. "That's better," she said with a bright smile on her face, "I know night vision when I see it, if you get what I mean."

"Okaaay," said Twilight, "Well, girls, we should get going. There's no telling how long this tunnel is but I have a feeling that since it leads to the other side of the Crystal Mountains we have a bit of a walk ahead of us."

"Right," said Applejack starting to take off down the tunnel, "Let's get moving ya'll. The more we stand around the colder it gets back home. Come on, there's no time to lose."

The other ponies stopped a while to look at each other a while and then started off after her down the long tunnel. As Twilight was walking Fluttershy speed up slightly to catch up to her and whispered, "I-is Applejack okay? I mean, no offense but, she normally isn't this... well... bossy."

"I know what you mean, Fluttershy," said Twilight, "She normally likes to take charge and get things done, but that time it almost felt like she was hustling us. Something has to be wrong in her personal life because I know there isn't anything wrong with us, at least to my knowledge. I'd say just let it play out. If she feels like she needs our help with whatever is bothering her, she'll ask for help."

"R-right," said Fluttershy, "Everything will be okay. Nothing bad will happen, especially not in this scary, dark, cave."

"Fluttershy, nothing bad is going to happen. Your friends are here with you and we won't let anything happen. I promise," Twilight said with a warm smile appearing on her face.

Fluttershy perked up slightly with the small amount of courage that Twilight had given her from her statement. Just at that moment a small gust of wind passed by her ear which she thought she heard whisper, "Fluttershy..." Fluttershy immediately stopped and her ears twitched as she turned her head around to see if there was anything or anyone behind her. At that moment the night vision in her snow goggles malfunctioned and turned off. Out of the shadows of the cave came two sources of a soft, light blue, light which looked like eyes. Out of nowhere deep scratches began to form on Fluttershy's goggles. After a while the scratch marks began to look like letters, and those letters became words which spelled:

"YOUR FRIENDS CANT STOP THE COLD"

Fluttershy quickly ripped off her goggles and threw them to the floor and curled up in a little ball next to the wall of the tunnel throwing away that little bit of courage which Twilight had given her and, wept to herself.

"Fluttershy, what happened?" she could hear Twilight's voice say.

"I saw eyes in the tunnel watching me," she whimpered, "The goggles turned off and scratches started showing up on them out of nowhere."

Twilight used her unicorn magic to levitate the goggles back over to her to inspect them. "Well, whatever scratches that were there are gone now, but it looks like you broke them when you threw them to the ground." Twilight levitated the goggles in front of Fluttershy's face to show her that her once flawless goggles now had a giant crack on them over top where the right eye should be. Twilight hit the switch for the night vision and it turned on. "Looks like the night vision works just fine too," said Twilight.

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but I know what I saw," responded Fluttershy.

"It's alright Fluttershy, it must be the darkness playing tricks on you. You'll be just fine as long as your with us." Twilight levitated the damaged goggles back around Fluttershy's head and put her hood back up. Reluctantly Fluttershy let her and stood back up with her. "Come on, I don't think the others heard us stop. Once we catch up to them you staying in the middle of the group."

"O-okay, Twilight," said Fluttershy beginning to walk with Twilight once more. "Thanks for staying with me, Twilight. I don't know how much trouble I would be in if I was just left there alone."

"It's what friends are for," replied Twilight, "Besides, it was hard not to notice you freeze up like that. You just stood there right in the middle of a conversation with me."

"I did? I don't remember that."

"Strange, but I still think it's the darkness playing tricks on you."

"Okay, if you say so, Twilight."

Both ponies continued to travel down the tunnel until finally they caught up to their friends who were halted at a spot in the tunnel where it turned from crystal to dirt.

"Where were you two?" asked Applejack.

"Fluttershy's equipment was loose so I stayed back to help her tighten it," replied Twilight, "Things got a bit messy and we ended up accidentally cracking her goggles."

"Oh, well, that is a shame. These goggles might not be too stylish, but they are quite useful tools," said Rarity.

"Well, at least they still work," said Twilight, "Why did you guys stop?"

"Well, just look," said Rarity pointing to the tunnel ahead of them, "Dirt. Filthy, disgusting, dirty... dirt."

"The tunnel changes from crystal to dirt here," said Applejack, "Rarity started having a meltdown and that's when we noticed you two were gone so we stopped to wait for you."

"Interesting," said Twilight, "We must be right under the edge of the Crystal Empire. That means we are halfway there to the Crystal Mountain range."

"Awe, all of this walking and we are only halfway?" said Rainbow Dash.

"We've walked that far before and it wasn't a problem for ya," said Applejack.

"Um, are you forgetting something?" asked Rainbow Dash. "I was flying all of the other times. I admit I've skipped a couple of leg days here and there but with this added equipment it's making walking just a bit harder for me."

"Oh, right, I forgot," said Applejack, "But we've got to keep moving. Come on, girls, there's no time to waste."

Applejack, once again, took off leading the pack of ponies down the tunnel this time with Fluttershy making sure to stay closer to the front of the pack. As they were walking this time though Rainbow Dash had trouble keeping a pace with the rest of her friends. She kept falling behind until she was at the very back of the pack trying to keep up with Pinkie Pie who was in front of her when suddenly she thought she heard a voice whisper from behind her, "Your friends will leave you behind."

"Huh?" said Rainbow Dash, turning her head behind her to see if there was anything behind her. She stared back into a deep dark cave with nothing to be seen. After a while of observing and convincing herself that nothing was there she turned her head back forward only to be met with a horrific face. Rainbow Dash let out a yell and fell backwards in a panic.

"Is everything alright... Dashie?" the face said.

"Oh, it's only you Pinkie," replied Rainbow Dash, "You scared me. Your face looks so much different in night vision than it does in real life."

"Thanks," snickered Pinkie Pie as she helped Rainbow Dash up off the floor. "I get that a lot."

"Come on, we need to catch up to our friends," said Rainbow Dash.

"Sounds like a good plan to me!" said Pinkie with a huge smile on her face and both ponies picked up their pace in order to catch back up to their friends.

After a while of walking they began to see the light at the end of the tunnel and the tunnel changed once more from dirt into that of sheer ice.

"Come on ya'll, we're almost there," said Applejack trotting ahead towards the light. The others followed trying to catch up, but were unable to until they entered the light and exited the tunnel. They were greeted by a scene of marvelous beauty. Snow was falling down from the heavens at a decently fast pace but definitely not hard enough to be called a whiteout or blizzard but still hard enough to dramatically limit their sight. The exit of the tunnel had left them on the side of one of the mountains close to the end of the Crystal Mountain range. Behind them they could see the mountain they had just come out of standing proud and tall and in front of them were three more mountains, which only looked like hills compared to the mountain they were currently standing on, overlooking a valley which came between them and the hills. In front of them was the maintenance road that Dr. First Frost had told them about covered in a thin sheet of snow and hard to see but there none the less, leading down into the valley.

After a while of marveling at the scene, their wrist devices all began to vibrate and beep in high pitch tone. They each lifted the device up to their faces and uncovered it's protective flap. The device displayed the words: "INCOMING TRANSMISSION," and soon after a picture of Dr. First Frost's face came on the screen.

"Well, according to our tracking systems it looks like you should be out of the tunnel," said Dr. First Frost, "So, how the view? Not everypony gets the chance to see the magnificence of the northern side of the Crystal Mountain range."

"Oh, Dr. Frost, it's simply amazing!" said Rarity, "Just the way the mountains..."

"Wonderful! No really that's great," said Dr. First Frost, "I'm just dropping in to make sure everything is okay. Which brings me to realize that the yellow one seems to have 'cracked' her goggles."

Fluttershy's ears slicked back in shame and she shied away from her device's screen out of embarrassment.

"We had a little bit of trouble but nothing you should worry about," said Twilight, "Everypony came out just fine in the end."

"Of course, your right," replied Dr. First Frost, "I mean all it is is a 5,000 bit piece of research equipment has been extensively damaged, but at least 'everypony came out fine.'"

"I don't think I like your sarcasm, Dr. Frost," said Rainbow Dash, "I mean, give us a break, we're trying to save Equestria from eternal winter."

Dr. First Frost was about to open his mouth to retaliate once more, but before he could he was cut off by a mare's voice saying, "Uh, excuse me, Dr. First Frost, but maybe I can handle this call for you, sir?"

Dr. First Frost stood there a while more before coming to a decision and saying, "Fine, this call might be a little more productive that way."

Dr. First Frost then walked off the side of the screen and was replaced by a snow white unicorn mare with white and light blue hair and a cloudy white eye for a cutie mark. Upon further inspection Twilight discovered that it was actually the mare who helped her into her suit all the way back at the lab.

"Good afternoon, Miss. Sparkle, long time no see." she said with a smile on her face.

"Yes it has," replied Twilight, "Anypony's friendly voice is more welcome than Dr. First Frost's sarcasm, err... I don't think you told me what your name was."

"It's Snowblind, Dr. First Frost's second in command, and, between you and me, none of us really like it either."

"I can still hear you!" yelled a voice in the background which everypony suspected to be Dr. First Frost's.

"But, as you can see, he likes to get to the point and get things done and done right, which is why he's in charge rather than me."

"Thank you!" the voice shouted one more time.

Snowblind leaned into the screen and put a hoof on the side of her mouth to muffle her voice and said, "I only said that to stay on his good side," this time being more careful to keep Dr. First Frost from hearing. The six other ponies on the other end giggled to themselves and Fluttershy felt much better.

"So, why did you guys contact us then?" asked Twilight.

"Well, truth be told, this is probably the last time we will be able to contact you from here. Normally we are able to reach further into the Frozen North, communication wise, but because of all the bad weather we are getting here it's weakened the signal. We like to check in as much as possible so, since this is the only time we will be able to do that, we wanted to make sure we did. So, from what I've heard,you're at the beginning of the maintenance road correct?"

"Correct." replied Twilight.

"Wonderful, as you can probably see, you aren't quite out of the Crystal Mountain range just yet but that is what the path is for. Take it down into the valley and follow it until you come to a fork in the road leading you in to separate directions. One takes you through the valley between the two mountains on the left and the other takes you through the one on the right. We've been informed by Princess Celestia that you will know which way to take yourself."

"Right, thanks for the heads up then."

"Don't mention it, it was my pleasure, your highness. You're on your own from here on out so, good luck."

"Thank you, Snowblind."

"Oh, no, your highness, thank you. Snowblind out." and with that, the white mare vanished from the screen without a trace being replaced by a black screen which said, "END TRANSMISSION" for a little while before it automatically returned to it's normal screen. Each of the ponies then replaced the protective flap over top of it once more.

"Alright, girls, we've been sat around long enough. Time to get movin','" said Applejack, attempting to take command once more.

"But we didn't even get a chance to sit down and my hooves are killing me," whined Rainbow Dash.

"You're not the only one with aching hooves, Rainbow," replied Applejack, "But, like I've said before, the more we sit around here the colder it gets back home. Now, let's get moving."

The ponies began walking down the snow covered maintenance path descending into the foggy, frosty, valley and heading towards the three remaining mountains.

"Ugh," grunted Rainbow Dash, "Don't you worry wings, as soon as I get out of this suit I promise you a sonic rainboom. Maybe even two."

As Twilight started down the path Rarity quickly caught up to her and began to talk about Snowblind.

"Don't you think Snowblind is the most precious little gem?" she said.

"Well, she is a lot nicer than Dr. Atmosphere if that is what your asking," replied Twilight.

"Oh, but not just that. Her mane, her coat, her eyes they are all just gorgeous, and her wings! I bet those must be beautiful as well."

"Wait, her wings?"

"Yes! Her wings! Don't tell me you didn't see her hiding them under her lab coat."

"Well, quite frankly I didn't."

"I guess she was doing a good job at hiding them, but it's going to take more than a lab coat to hide such gorgeous wings from these precise eyes. But the real question is why would she try to hide them."

"Well, first off, if she dose have wings that would make her an alicorn and those don't come around too often. So, if that's true, then, since alicorns are, for the most part, descendants of royalty, why would she be working for someone like Dr. Atmosphere."

"I don't know."

"Exactly. Which leads me to believe that what you saw might not have been wings."

"I'm pretty sure I know what I saw and what I saw was wings Twilight."

"Let's just ask her when we get back then but, for right now, let's focus on what's ahead of us. This path is getting pretty slippery and it looks like we are almost to the bottom of the valley."

"I think I see the fork in the road that Snowblind was telling us about as well."

"I don't see it, I don't know how you can see anything too far away in this weather."

"Like I said, Twilight, I have eyes like a griffon," said Rarity trotting off ahead of Twilight leaving her doubting her own conclusion. If Rarity really could see that far in the snowy weather then what she saw on Snowblind might have actually been wings. Twilight's mind had an extremely hard time dismissing the thought. Was she actually an alicorn and, if so, was she actually a princess? If she was a princess why is she stuck working for Dr. Atmosphere? Why would Dr. Atmosphere outrank her? Questions kept racing through her mind until accidentally...

*Thud*

Twilight wasn't paying attention to where she was going and ran straight into Applejack who had come to a sudden and immediate halt, causing both ponies to fall to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, Applejack, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," said Twilight.

"Well, I guess that means you haven't noticed that we've made it to the fork in the road," said Applejack rising to her feet and then helping Twilight up.

Twilight looked up and saw that what Applejack said was true. In front of her was a barely visible fork in the road in which the path that they were on split into a "Y" shape with two signs, one on top of the other, in between the roads pointing out which road lead where. The top sign pointed to the road on the left and said: "North West, Areas 1-3, Devices 1-16." The bottom signed pointed right and stated: "North East, Areas 4-6, devices 17-32."

"Well, Twilight," said Applejack, "Snowblind said you would know which path to take. Which way is it?"

"I don't know yet," said Twilight, "I have to use the new spell Princess Celestia taught me and then I'll know."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and use it," said Rainbow Dash remembering to sit down and rest her hooves a while, while they were stopped.

"Because I have to let you all know, first, that this spell uses a lot of my energy and, once complete correctly, will leave me lying almost lifeless on the ground. I just want you all to know that all that means is the spell worked properly. We wouldn't want any unnecessary panicking now would we?"

"Lifeless?!" cried Rarity, "Whatever does your little spell do anyway?"

"Princess Celestia has requested that it be kept as much of a secret as possible so I can't tell any of you. All I can do is ask that you make sure nothing happens to me while I'm 'channeling' the spell. Can you all do that?" Twilight looked around at all of her friends who each nodded back at her. "Okay then, here we go."

Twilight turned to face the sign in front of them, closed her eyes, and began to cast her spell. She had all of the same feelings as the previous times that she had cast the spell but, because she had practiced it a bit more in her own time, they didn't affect her much. Before she knew it all of the feelings of weakness and pain she had disappeared suddenly and she opened her eyes. She had once more successfully phased her spirit into the plane of magic. She then looked to the sky to try and find the flow of magic. She saw the faint aurora of magic coming from the Crystal Empire coming from behind her appearing over the top of the mountains. Mixing with the aurora was another one of various shades of blue and light green flowing from the north. Twilight thought to herself that this had to be the flow of magic she was supposed to be tracking and followed it with her eyes through the sky. The aurora seemed to be originating from the Northwestern direction, towards the side of the path on the left.

Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight caught a glimpse of a glowing blue light which seemed to be traveling down the left path by itself. Immediately her mind went back to the blue figure she saw back in her room at the Crystal Empire and her mind once again lit up with questions. What was this anomaly? Where is it going? Is it following me? Does it want me to follow it? Is it heading towards the source of magic too?

"She's still okay right?" Twilight heard Fluttershy's voice from behind her and she turned back to see her friends in the real world waiting for her return. Whatever this thing is it had to wait for another time for now she had to get back to her friends. Before she went back though she turned her head to get one last glance at the mysterious ball of energy but to her surprise it had vanished into the mountains. Questions began to race through her head once more but this time she dismissed them rather quickly and went back to her body. She closed her eyes and touched her horn to her body's horn and when she opened them once more she was back in the real world.

She still felt weak just like all the other times when she cast the spell and as she tried to stand back up her hooves slipped and she fell back down. Quickly, all of her friends jumped to help her back up.

"Are you okay, Twilight?" asked Fluttershy.

"Yes, like I said, it is a very, very, exhausting spell," said Twilight, rising to her feet with the help of her friends.

"So did ya find out which path to take?" asked Applejack.

"Left," said Twilight catching her breath, "It's the left path."

"Alright then, let's go," said Applejack.

"Maybe I should lead from here on out, Applejack. After all I am the one who knows where we are going." said Twilight.

"Right, of course," replied Applejack somewhat reluctantly. "I'll just bring up the rear to make sure non of us are left behind."

"Sounds like a good idea," replied Twilight, "Let's get moving then."

The six ponies started off down the left path with Twilight up front leading them followed by Rarity who was right behind her. Pinkie Pie came next followed by Rainbow Dash who, since the last little break, was now better rested and able to keep up her pace with the others. In the back came Fluttershy followed by Applejack. The path was for the most part an incline going into a second valley which was formed by the two mountains that were on the left side. Eventually the path lead through what seemed to be a pony made canyon carved through the side of the mountain to form a narrow path which was just big enough for the ponies to travel by two through with sheer walls of ice on either side of them.

Up until that point their journey had been peaceful but as soon as they made it about halfway through the pass the ground beneath them started shaking. Immediately all six ponies stopped dead in their tracks.

"W-what's happening? What's going on?" said Fluttershy. Suddenly cracks formed underneath the hooves of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie and the ground ripped open.

"Run!" shouted Twilight, and the ponies scrambled. Fluttershy and Applejack turned and began to run back the way they came while the other four kept running forward as the crack began to spread in both directions chasing both groups of ponies. Eventually. Pinkie Pie tripped and fell to the ground letting out a small yelp. When Rainbow dash saw this happen she turned and headed back to help her up but the spreading crack had already caught up to her and stopped. Pinkie Pie was hanging from the side of the ledge just barely and lost her grip just as Rainbow Dash got to her. Rainbow Dash quickly reached out into the newly formed pit and caught her by the hoof but the momentum of Pinkie Pie's fall ended up taking Rainbow Dash with her and both ponies fell deep into the darkness of the chasm.

After the ground stopped trembling, Twilight and Rarity ran back to the edge of the massive chasm. There they saw Fluttershy and Applejack standing on the other side.

"Are you two okay?" cried Twilight in a loud voice so the other two could hear her.

"Yeah, Fluttershy is a bit spooked but we're okay." she hear Applejack reply. "Where are Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash? They aren't over here."

"Do you think they could have fallen in, Twilight?" said Rarity.

"I think they did. I hope they are okay." Twilight leaned over the edge slightly and called out to the missing ponies. "Rainbow! Pinkie! Say something! Are you two okay?!"

The ponies waited for a while until finally their calls were answered. "We're alright! A little bruised up, but we're okay!" came Rainbow Dash's voice echoing out of the chasm. "It's hard to see down here, but I think we landed in a cave system of some sort! Doesn't look like there is a way out other than going through it!"

"It's so shiny down here!" Pinkie Pie's voice echoed.

"Pinkie's right, there are a lot of weird glowing crystal things down here!"

Twilight thought back to the glowing crystals she saw on the train. 'Heaven's Lights,' she thought to herself.

"Go ahead and follow the cave system to find a way out!" yelled Twilight, "After you do make it out you should be able to use you wrist device to find us on the map."

"Okie, dokie, lokie," echoed Pinkie's voice.

"Alright! We'll see you on the other side then!" came Rainbow Dash's voice.

"As, for you two," Twilight said to Fluttershy and Applejack, "Looks like we are going to have to split up. Turn around and go back out and use the other path to make it to the other side of the mountains. After that, use your wrist devices to regroup as well. Rarity and I are going to continue to head towards the source of this magic."

"Gotcha, Twilight. Come on, Fluttershy, let's get moving."

Before they knew it Applejack and Fluttershy had vanished into the snowstorm and Twilight and Rarity were all alone on the side of the chasm.

"Do you think they'll be okay all on their own Twilight?" asked Rarity.

"I think that they are wondering the same thing about us," replied Twilight. "Come on, let's get moving. We need to get as far as we can and find a place to set up a shelter. It's getting dark..."

Comments

[LCpl Azure Blaze]

As for right now please excuse the spelling and grammar errors I'm going to look over what I have already written and fix it in this upcoming hiatus in which I will draw a cover photo and now I have to check the story too I guess. It might be a couple of weeks before I start working on the next chapter again. Sorry guys but since nobody else I asked wants to help me with doing this I have to do it myself. I am always looking for help though so if you want to help drop me a line.